Monkeydoodles

My little Camden reminds me of a monkey lately!  He loves to jump on the couch and in his bed.  He is jumping off steps with both feet more and more frequently.  He loves to "fly" with Daddy, especially if they go outside.  (This really means that Camden sits on Brian's back, Brian runs around, and Camden giggles and squeals.) And, he is learning so much!

And, little baby is moving like a monkey lately! I don't remember Camden going through quick, crazy bursts of energy like this guy does.  Anyway, we get to meet him in the next month sometime--but hopefully sooner than later.  :)

This week, and I can't remember exactly what prompted it, but I heard Camden from the other room say,
"Oh, boy!".  It made me laugh!  What cute things have you heard lately? 

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter!  But, we forgot to take pictures--what were we thinking?


On Friday, we were able to go to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU to start our Easter weekend.  The paintings were lovely.  I liked one that had an angel comforting Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.  What a wonderful experience for us!  Afterward, we headed to the Bean Museum, which was definitely Camden's favorite!  If you have never been, it is worth it!  There are taxidermied (yes--that is a made-up word) animals of all kinds, from peacocks to a giraffe neck/head to a polar bear.  Camden loved the hippo, the elephant, the tiger, and the leopards.

Then, on Saturday evening, we had a little egg hunt in our front room.  Eggs were hidden all over, and he even climbed on top of a little table to get up to the window sill.  It was so cute watching him look around to see if there were any more "treats" around.

On Sunday, Brian and I taped up pictures out of old Ensigns of Christ all over the front room.  We hoped it would help Camden understand the reason for Easter.  Then, my brother come over in the evening for dinner.  Overall, a great weekend!

And, I have about 3 weeks until the baby's due date!  I seem to alternate between feeling totally ready to be done being pregnant and feeling like I am not ready for him to come at all.  I'd imagine this is pretty normal, but I don't remember so many flip-flop emotions with Camden.  I really really wanted him to come late so I could finish my school year.  Anyway, Camden learned to say Baby this week, so we're making a little more improvement.  He has a book that shows animal moms and babies.  One picture had a mom polar bear with two babies, and I told him that one of the babies was like Camden and one was like the new baby.  This has seemed to help him understand the idea of having more than one child in our family.  He says "mom, me, baby" as he points to the pictures.  It's pretty cute.  :)

Anyway, hope you had a great Easter!

New bed

Brian has been planning on making a toddler bed for Camden so that new baby can have the crib when he's too big for our cradle.  Yesterday, though, our plans changed quite a bit, and I think it's great! 

First, I was looking on KSL to find a crib/toddler mattress for the new bed.  I was also looking for a crib to take apart so Brian could use the springs to support the mattress.  I found a crib that included the mattress for a reasonable price, so we went to get it.  When we got there, the couple said that they were really just trying to get rid of it, and didn't want any payment.  What a surprise for us!  

When we got home, we started thinking about different ways to put the bed together.  We set up the crib and decided to try and use it to make the bed instead of having Brian construct it from scratch.  So, Brian cut off one side of the front rail and reattached the top bar about half way down. 

We went to DI to drop off some stuff.  We decided to stop in and see if there were any ladders for bunk beds that could be adapted easily for what we needed.  Bingo! Brian found the perfect one!  

Now, we have a new bed for Camden.  We had to make him wait until his nap today to use it so that all the glue could dry, but he loves being able to climb up a ladder into his new bed.  I love that I can store all sorts of stuff under it, and Brian loves that Camden loves it!  I also love that Brian didn't have to use several Saturdays cutting, gluing, and away from us!

Happy Sunday!

Rabbits

 I like to read a blog called "chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com", which is full of wonderful things of all kinds.  On Wednesdays, she asks her readers to respond to a certain topic.  This week, I decided to respond.  Her topic was to free-write for only 10 minutes on a certain word about Easter or springtime.  I chose to write about rabbits.  

Rabbits

Many people think of rabbits as soft, cute, cuddly creatures.  Perhaps Thumper comes to mind.  Not quite so for me. 

When I was about 13, I moved from the suburbs to a rural area filled with orange and avocado groves.  My parents built a new home and also were responsible to fully landscape several acres of land.  They decided to plant grass seeds rather than lay out sod because of the large area—at least on the first attempt.

As soon as the little grass seeds started to sprout, the rabbits ate them.  Every single little sprout was destroyed by the quickly-multiplying creatures. 

My parents tried everything they could think of.  A neighbor recommended shooting the rabbits.  He told us he had been successful by shooting one rabbit and posting it on a stake for a warning to the others.  I know, I know, it sounds awful!  Thankfully, my parents chose not to do that option, but my dad did stay awake through the night a few times with his rifle.  I didn’t even know he had a gun until then.  I don’t think he ever shot one.  Perhaps he fired a shot or two to scare them off.  

Ahh!  I only have 2 minutes left!  Jump to the end.

The thing that was most successful was pouring gallons and gallons of Tabasco sauce around the perimeter of the grass area.  It prevented the rabbits from eating the grass on the outside, and we hoped it would trick them.  It helped a little, but the grass in the middle still got mostly eaten while the Tabasco treated grass was able to grow until the sprinklers washed the sauce out.  They also tried sprinkling coyote urine all over the lawn.  Aaargh! 

 I’m pretty sure my parents ended up using sod.  I'll have to ask them.

And, my time is up!